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Tower Losing Face Through Facebook

In Kalamazoo, Mich. a tower is suing a college student who aired his grievances on facebook. The postings have lured 11,000 viewers and the tower, according to freep.com, has lost many commercial accounts, including the apartment complex where the problem was born.

The student claimed he was towed from his apartment complex after the tow operator scraped off his parking permit from the car’s windshield. After paying $118 to get his car back, the student decided to fight back by posting his grievance on Facebook, the internet social networking site.

The tower has sued the student for slander and libel to the tune of a quarter of a million dollars. The student is suing back.

The lawyer for the tower says his client had done nothing wrong and was the victim of a vicious internet smear campaign.

The lawyer for the student, said the tower should simply have apologized to the student, refunded his money and asked him to remove the Facebook page. That didn’t happen. Now, she and her co-counsel are using the student’s Facebook page to identify other unhappy customers to elevate the suit to a class action. Source: nydailynews

QCSA Acquires Salvage Direct

QCSA Holdings, Inc., a leading Vehicle Remarketing and Total Loss Claims Management company announced it has purchased and will be uniting forces with Salvage Direct, one of the nation’s premier salvage re-marketing firms.

Salvage Direct was founded in 1998 by Bob Joyce as the first online auction in the total-loss claims management industry. The company also specializes in Commercial and Catastrophic-loss management services.

“Salvage Direct is a leader in Salvage Remarketing and Internet Auctions,” said John Lindle, CEO of QCSA Holdings. “We are thrilled to be combining forces with Bob Joyce and his entire team.”

The new entity is one of the nation’s largest salvage vehicle remarketing companies, with over 80 locations and more than 120,000 vehicles re-marketed annually.

Amsley to Lead Jerr-Dan Kerr’s Role Expands

Jerr-Dan Corporation, the full line manufacturer of wreckers and carriers, and an Oshkosh Corporation company, announced changes in its management team.

Joel Amsley was named as senior vice president, to lead JerrDan Corporation. Amsley will have management responsibilities for sales, marketing, customer service and engineering/new product Joel Amsley development.

Barry Kerr, Jerr-Dan’s vice president of finance, will also have responsibility for: operations, human resources, procurement, supply chain, and engineering-applications.

“Joel Amsley brings more than 29 years of experience to Jerr-Dan. He has played a pivotal role in fueling the company’s growth over that time. His wealth of industry knowledge and company experience is a huge asset,” said Wilson Jones, Oshkosh Corporation executive vice president and president, Fire & Emergency. Jones continued, “Barry Kerr’s leadership over the past five years in the finance area provides a solid foundation for the leadership of these critically important departments.”

Chattanooga Sets Rates

The City Council of Chattanooga, Tenn., approved a $135 nighttime maximum for private-lot towing companies, decided to allow a higher charge. The council voted to allow a $50 winching fee to bring the nighttime charge to $185.

Under an amendment by Councilwoman Sally Robinson towing operators can "have a conversation" with those whose cars are towed about a nighttime charge that, according to charges outlined by towing operators, could bring the total amount to $250 if the citizen opts to retrieve the vehicle that night. The charge would be $215 if there is both a winching fee and a nighttime fee, but the car is not picked up until the next day.

Board Chairman Frederick Weinhold said a $250 charge is excessive. He said the $135 already made Chattanooga the highest rate in the state. Source: Chattanoogan.com

This Could Cause a Tension Headache

By Bill Simmons

There’s a new kid on the block, sort of –actually, it’s a remake of an “old look” guardrail system that you as a tow operator need to be aware of. Texas, Minnesota, Pennsylvania, Missouri and Washington (there are probably others) are experimenting with Cass, a Cable Safety System which is a cable replacement system for tried and true guardrails. They are most likely going to be found on interstate highways where speeds are higher than on secondary roads but you should expect them anywhere. The idea behind this is that the cable system captures a moving vehicle and keeps the vehicle and its energy moving in the original direction of travel instead of bouncing it off or redirecting it so it doesn’t cross into an oncoming travel lane.

OK, metal guardrails, wooden telephone poles, rubber tires: how can a cable system create a safety issue for the towing industry? Well, you may be called upon to cut one of these systems or you may have to ask a Fire/ Rescue Department to cut one of these systems to facilitate a recovery. You need to be able to identify one of these systems by sight. This is exactly where good training and good memory recall will have a direct effect on the future use of your legs, or arms or other useable body parts you may wish to keep attached.

You need to know that these cables are under significant tension –anywhere from 1300 pounds up to 10,000 pounds of tension. The colder the ambient temperature, the greater the pounds per square inch tension on the cable. The warmer the temperature the less the tension. Any sudden, unexpected release of energy by anything storing energy has the potential to cause great injury.

There are very specific methods by which these cables may be cut without causing injuries and it would be in every tow operator’s, tow boss’s or tow owner’s and every fire/rescue service best interests to learn about these CASS systems before an event occurs where you are called upon to cut one.

Call your state highway department and ask if they are installing them now, or plan to in the future. Lobby your public safety departments to get information about them and have classes made available to your industry.

Training should be available from the manufacturer to end users (the state or municipal entity which is installing them). The following information narrative was obtained from a website listed on Firehouse.com buried in a safety commentary.

“Cutting the cables is a last resort and is only appropriate in life-threatening situations. There are some systems that have in line turnbuckles and they could be used to release tension on the cables. If it is necessary to cut the cable(s), we recommend cutting between two undamaged posts where the cables are parallel and not being subjected to multiple forces, and then cut only the minimum number of cables necessary. We recommend that the cable be securely taped with duct tape or other tape on each side of where it will be cut to prevent unraveling.

If the cables are tangled around a vehicle, lifting the cables out of the post may be appropriate. However, if you start to raise the cables and the post is lifted, stop and pull the post out of the way. Use extra caution and secure the post with a chain or restraining device as it may be under significant tension if the cables are twisted around a vehicle.”

Please feel free to pass this information on to your local fire/rescue/recovery department.

I gathered this information from the Firehouse.com website sometime ago. I sent requests for official information to the manufacturer and they did not respond. I think passing along this information to the towing industry is important enough to get it out there without the hard confirmation of facts from the manufacturer. Information for this article and photo was obtained from Trinity Highway Products at http://www.highwayguardrail.com/default.html. There is supposed to be a safety section included in the “Installation Manual” section at this website.

Bill Simmons is a retired Massachusetts Firefighter. He was a licensed EMT for over 26 years, has an A.S. in Fire Science Technology and holds a current OSHA certification in Hazardous Materials Waste Operations. Bill can be reached at bsimmons@towman.com